What's your problem, Malfoy?
by VelvetC
Summary: It's Seventh Year at Hogwarts and Draco has apparently developed feelings for Hermione because of what happened in the war, but are they genuine or is it just lust? Meanwhile, Harry has been acting suspiciously...Dramione. CHAPTER 2 TAKEN DOWN AND EDITED!
1. Chapter 1

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A/N – Hi everyone. I haven't written a fanfic in ages! This was just something to stop me being bored really so it's probably not that good. I might take it further, I might not. Let me know what you think in a review!!

_**Summary – It's Seventh Year at Hogwarts and Draco has been acting strangely around Hermione, but are his feelings towards her genuine, or is it just lust? Meanwhile, Harry has been acting very suspiciously around the editor of the newly established school newspaper and with a little help from Luna, Hermione is determined to get to the bottom of it...**_

_**Warnings – Strong language**_

_**Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter. At all. Unfortunately.**_

**What's your problem, Malfoy?**

Hermione trod hastily down the Charms corridor with a heavy stack of books in her arms. Classes had finished ten minutes ago and she was on her way back to Gryffindor Tower to finish the homework she started yesterday evening. It was raining outside and sheets of it lashed against the windows, rattling the panes and beating against the masonry.

Hermione liked doing homework, but she liked doing homework even more when it rained. It was comforting, ensconced inside the Common Room, sitting cosily beside the roaring fireplace while the wind howled outside and she was looking forward to an uninterrupted evening of doing just that while Harry and Ron got themselves soaked on the Quidditch Pitch.

Her head full of complicated rune translations and lists of dates of goblin rebellions, Hermione turned the corner, caught her shoe on a slightly raised floorboard, tripped and fell painfully onto her side. Her books and stacks of notes cascaded out of her arms and slid across the floor.

Wincing at the throbbing pain in her hip, she put her hand on the floor and went to push herself upwards, just as she heard a cackle of laughter coming from a few feet behind her.

"Need a hand, Granger?" said Draco Malfoy while the knot of Slytherin girls beside him giggled automatically.

"No" said Hermione, blushing and attempting to stand up, but her foot got caught in the strap of her bag and she stumbled comically. The Slytherin girls roared with laughter but Malfoy didn't.

"Here, let me help" he said bending down to retrieve the book Hermione was reaching for but instead of picking it up he kicked it further from her reach.

"Bastard" Hermione muttered, collecting her books and standing up and thankfully, succeeding this time

Draco smirked "What was that, Granger? I didn't quite catch it –"

Hermione gave him a withering look and turned to walk away, hoisting her bag further up her shoulder as she did so. Draco watched her until she vanished up the staircase and the girls surrounding him gave each other quizzical looks "come on" he told them and they followed obediently like a pack of over groomed show dogs.

* * *

"What happened to you?" said Ron the next morning at breakfast. There was a bruise on Hermione's wrist where she had stuck out her hand to break her fall yesterday

"I fell over" she said "in the Charms corridor. There's a loose floorboard. If Filch spent more time on the upkeep of the castle rather than chasing down petty troublemakers..." she broke off as the caretaker stomped past their table towards the doors, wheezing and grumbling.

A chorus of giggles and deep voices interrupted the buzz of chatter and clatter of cutlery in the Great Hall. Draco and his entourage had arrived. The boys were laughing at an apparently deeply amusing joke Draco had just told while the girls batted their false eyelashes.

"Honestly" said Hermione, watching the group settle noisily down at the Slytherin Table "what is the attraction?"

"That is obvious" said Ginny, reaching for a crumpet "he's all misunderstood and tragic now, isn't he? After what happened before the battle, after helping Harry and all that. Half the girls in this school would give their wands just to have the great Slytherin War Hero _talk_ to them. All he has to do is walk past and they swoon. Fair enough he's a wanker, but since when did that matter to Hogwarts Society of Dumb Bimbos?" Ginny raised her eyebrows at a pair of attractive Ravenclaw girls who were eyeing Draco interestedly over their cereal "and, although I know you'd rather eat dragon dung that admit it Hermione, he's never been exactly ugly"

"Don't let Harry hear you say that" warned Hermione

"He's always had girls fawning over him" Ginny continued, waving to Luna who had just wandered into the hall "but now he's got more than just good looks to help him with the ladies. And admittedly, he did help us _a lot _last year. He saved all our lives, yours and Dumbledore's included"

Hermione looked up to the staff table where Professor Dumbledore was talking quietly with Professor McGonagall. The war had been hard on the Headmaster. He had been using a walking stick since the battle took place but Madam Pomfrey and a team of specialist Healers had assured him and the school that it wasn't a lasting injury, but still he looked older than ever.

Draco had turned spy for the Order half way through the war and consequently, had managed to tell the Order what the Death Eaters had planned for the battle. Without Draco's warning, quick thinking and bravery, Hermione had no doubt that Voldemort would have won and Harry would never have had the chance to defeat him. The reason why Draco joined the Order however, was debatable.

"He did it to save his own skin" said Hermione dismissively "he knew Voldemort was going to kill him eventually for his parent's mistakes, once he'd played his part in the war. He saved our lives because he knew that if Voldemort won, he was a dead man"

"Whatever" said Ginny who had evidently grown tired of the conversation and was now watching Harry who had stopped at the doors to the Great Hall to speak with a Ravenclaw girl whose name Hermione did not know.

"Speaking of Draco being popular..." said Hermione airily

"It was expected" said Ginny snappishly and she stood up and strode over to the doors. Hermione grinned when she saw Ginny coil an arm around Harry's waist and glare at the Ravenclaw girl who looked sullen and stalked away.

Hermione finished her toast and unfurled the Daily Prophet, aware that she was being watched. Her eyes left the paper and travelled over to the Slytherin Table. Draco held her gaze for several seconds before looking away. Hermione shook the paper irritably and did not look back at the Slytherin Table again.

* * *

Hermione found herself becoming rather suspicious as the week progressed. Draco Malfoy was appearing near to her more often than could be assumed as accidental. He would stroll past her in the hallways and shoot her curious glances that could be described as flirtatious but Hermione surmised were more likely to be mocking. He would catch her eye in class, watch her eat in the Great Hall and often be in the library when she was, accompanied as always by his horde of admirers. Either he was doing this to annoy her, or had some sort of malicious practical joke in mind and Hermione became very wary of him and did her best to avoid him.

On Wednesday afternoon, Hermione was alone in the library researching Carnivorous Shrubs for a Herbology assignment and feeling exceedingly harassed by the amount of N.E.W.T revision she had to do. The quiet corner she had chosen to study in was hidden from the rest of the library by a tall and dusty shelf devoted to Care of Magical Creatures text books and located right at the back of the room – it was her favourite place and she was rarely disturbed there. Half an hour into her work however, she was distracted by a scuffling sound coming from the other side of the shelves accompanied by giggling. Frowning, Hermione laid down her quill and peered around the shelf to investigate. Draco Malfoy and a slim blonde girl were kissing enthusiastically. Draco had the girl pinned to the bookshelf and Hermione, furious, strode out of her hiding place and said

"Fornicating in the library, Malfoy? I'll be telling your head of house about this"

The pair broke apart and the girl laughed at Hermione and pulled Draco's head back towards her but he pushed her hand away "fuck off Granger" he said

"No" said Hermione. Draco stared back at her and looked her up and down searchingly, from her black knee socks and skirt, to the white shirt she wore with the Head Girl badge pinned to the lapel. His eyes rested on her chest for a moment and the girl looked mutinous while Hermione, feeling rather violated, went bright red, secured her top button and said "what the fuck do you think you're doing?"

He continued to look at her thoughtfully for a moment and then, as though he had come to a sudden decision, turned to his female companion and said coldly "get lost Jo"

The girl stared at him disbelievingly "You're an arrogant manwhore Malfoy" she said, pushing him away from her "and my name isn't Jo, it's Carla"

"Like I care?" said Draco and the girl, looking positively livid, strode down the aisle of bookshelves and disappeared from view "dirt" he muttered after she'd gone. Hermione pressed her lips together 

angrily and folded her arms instinctively around her chest as Draco turned his attention back to her once more.

"What did you do that up for?" he said, nodding toward her shirt button "I was rather enjoying the view"

"You're unbelievable" said Hermione, disgusted "you're a lecherous little prick"

"That hurt" said Draco, unconcerned. He sat down on the nearest chair, leaned back and studied Hermione as though she were a particularly interesting piece of artwork

"What's going on Malfoy?" said Hermione "you've been following me around for a week now, watching me –"

"You're interesting to watch" Draco replied simply

Hermione laughed mirthlessly "go back to your girlfriend's Malfoy and leave me alone"

"And if I don't leave you alone?"

Hermione considered him for a moment "if you keep following me I swear I will hex you in very sensitive place. And trust me, when I've finished you will no longer be able to use that particular piece of equipment which may at least stop me and the Prefects finding you and your various sluts in empty classrooms all over the school"

"Touché" said Draco, raising an eyebrow. Hermione went back to her table to collect her things, unable to remain in the library any longer because she was running the risk of carrying out her threat there and then. Draco, to her severe irritation, followed her

"Are you going to report me then?" he asked in a tone that suggested he thought this very unlikely

"If you value your manhood, Draco you will piss off and leave me alone" said Hermione, throwing books into her bag

"You can't hide from me forever, Hermione" Draco called after her as she made for the door. Hermione paused with one hand on the door knob, momentarily disarmed by this comment but the next second she had wrenched it open and was making her way as fast as she could away from him.

* * *

Hermione, stunned and admittedly rather confused by what had just occurred, walked quickly through the Transfiguration corridor but came to an abrupt halt a little way before the entrance to another corridor. She could hear low voices, punctuated by a shrill laugh. She knew this corridor, hidden behind a tapestry, was a favourite haunt of couples who wished to have some privacy between classes and already fed up with finding Draco and his numerous girlfriends snogging in here, Hermione ripped the tapestry aside, ready to reprimand whoever it was but stopped, mouth half open when she saw exactly who it was concealed there.

Harry and the Ravenclaw girl were standing, very close together. The girl's hand was upon Harry's arm and she snatched it away very quickly and her cheeks coloured at once "well Harry" she said in a 

businesslike way "I should be able to work around that...what about next week, we can finish the interview in the library?"

"Hermione" said Harry, his face unreadable "I thought you had the day off today? Malfoy's meant to be doing the rounds, isn't he?"

"Don't talk to me about him" said Hermione "what are you doing?" she added, looking suspiciously at the girl who was holding a clipboard and grinning at her

"You must be Hermione" said the girl confidently "Harry's told me loads about you, how you fended off five Death Eater's at once during the battle...very impressive!"

Hermione said nothing and the girl's grin faltered but she recovered it almost instantly "my name is Melody, Melody Colton" she held out her hand and Hermione took it, shooting Harry a questioning glance as she did so

"Melody has been given permission by Dumbledore to start a school newspaper" Harry explained "she's been conducting interviews with the Quidditch teams for the School Activities section. We were just discussing the article"

"I'm hoping to get work experience at the Daily Prophet when we've finished seventh year" said Melody proudly "I'm very serious about this school paper, I just know it's going to be popular and Harry's been giving me an interview, as he's captain of the Gryffindor Team, you know" she gave Harry a radiant smile which Hermione did not like

"I see. This is rather funny place for an interview don't you think, Harry? I mean, wouldn't the library be more convenient? I'm sure I could arrange a place in there for the school paper to meet. I'll ask Madam Pince next time I'm there if you want" said Hermione

"Oh, well thanks" said Melody, still grinning in a very annoying fashion and showing a set of very white teeth "but Professor Flitwick is sorting out an old classroom for the newspaper committee to work in. I do appreciate the offer though, Hermione" she added sweetly

"Who is on this committee?" said Hermione tautly, looking at Harry with her eyebrows contracted. He seemed to be avoiding her gaze

"Well me of course" said Melody with an irritating little laugh "and Harry too. It's very good of him to offer to help, don't you think? What with all the Quidditch practices he has and all the N.E.W.T revision we've got"

"So just you and Harry then?" Hermione went on

"Oh, no...we have plenty more members. Zacharias Smith and Hannah Abbot and Padma and Parvati and Lavender –"

"Well I would be interested in joining" said Hermione rather stiffly "I am very supportive of school societies and extracurricular activities. And if you are looking for someone with journalism experience, may I suggest you speak to Luna Lovegood whose father is a journalist and editor of the Quibbler? I'm sure she would be an asset to the team"

Melody looked a little uncomfortable "well Hermione, I'm afraid all the positions have been filled. Of course, it is most regretful that you can't join but if a position opens up I will let you know, or I'm sure Harry will"

"Right" said Hermione while Melody smiled at her "well keep me updated with the developments, won't you Harry?" and casting him a very suspicious look, she swept past them wondering what exactly all that was about and what on earth was going on.

* * *

"What do you know about Melody Colton?" said Hermione. She was sitting at the bar of the Three Broomsticks with Luna who was stirring her Gillywater very slowly with a cocktail stick and gazing dreamily around the pub

"She has just started a school newspaper" said Luna, turning her huge, glassy blue eyes toward Hermione "and she's involved in all sorts of school societies. I went to the Gobstones Club last year and she was there. I didn't go much, it was quite boring and I am not very good at Gobstones anyway"

"Yes," said Hermione a little impatiently "but what is she like? What do you _know_ about her?"

"I don't speak to her much" said Luna "I asked her if she wanted me to help her with the paper and I offered to write a very informative article about Wrackspurts, there really should be more awareness about them you know, I was saying to daddy during the summer –"

"But she wouldn't let you join?" interrupted Hermione, knowing that if she let Luna get into full flow about Wrackspurts there would be no stopping her

"No, she told me all positions had been filled. I was quite disappointed actually" said Luna. She took a dignified sip of Gillywater and added "Harry likes her though. He is on the committee, on the School Activities team. She asked him for his help first. You do know he is working with her?"

"Yeah" said Hermione "I know. What do you reckon about that?"

"Well I am sure Harry will be very good on the paper" said Luna, missing the point entirely "he knows quite a bit about Quidditch, doesn't he?"

"Is this seat taken girls?"

Hermione barely suppressed a groan. Draco Malfoy had sauntered over to the bar and taken the seat next to Hermione and to her surprise, his usual gaggle of chattering, swooning girls was absent.

"No" said Luna before Hermione could answer "you're Draco Malfoy" she said, her eyes widening "you helped to defeat the Death Eaters and Voldemort. That was very brave of you"

Draco ignored her and Hermione's fury with him doubled "what did I tell you on Wednesday, Malfoy?" she said through gritted teeth

"Something about my manhood" said Draco idly with a suggestive grin

"Eugh" said Hermione, downing the rest of her Butterbeer. Luna giggled.

"Fancy a walk, Granger?" said Draco

"No" said Hermione tonelessly. Luna left her seat and wandered off over to a table where Neville was sitting with Dean and Seamus. Hermione wished she hadn't.

"What are you doing in Hogsmeade anyway?" said Draco "I thought you'd be holed up in Gryffindor Tower, working yourself into a frenzy over N.E.W.T revision"

"Like it's any of your business" said Hermione. There was a pause during which Hermione overheard Luna enthusing to Neville about Wrackspurts and the various effects they had upon their unwary victims.

"What the fuck is a Wrackspurt?" said Draco, looking at Luna confusedly. Hermione laughed and at the same time wondered why she was still sitting there next to Draco Malfoy.

"Potter and the Weasel not with you?" said Draco when Hermione remained resolutely silent

"Quidditch" said Hermione "the match against Slytherin is drawing close as you know" she fixed Draco with a stare "and I hope we thrash you" it was Draco's turn to laugh now

"I don't think so" he said "in case you've forgotten, Slytherin have got me as a Seeker, so it'll be us thrashing you I'm afraid"

"In your dreams, Malfoy" said Hermione

Draco smirked at her with his head cocked to one side "there have been quite a few things in my dreams recently, Granger" he said slowly "and winning the upcoming match hasn't been one of them"

Hermione laughed nervously through her nose, thinking desperately for a retort but none came to her. Her brain was fogged. Draco nudged her shoulder with his own and said "see you around, Granger" and left the pub. Through the window, Hermione saw him instantly converged upon by a throng of girls and felt a stab of bitterness that had nothing to do with Draco annoying her.

"Luna" she said, throwing a few Sickles onto the bar and heading towards Neville's table "I need you to do me a favour"

* * *

"I can't submit this" said Luna, running her eyes over the parchment Hermione handed her

"What's wrong with it?"

"A lot of things" said Luna vaguely "it's just not interesting. I think Melody would prefer the Wrackspurt article myself. If she read that –"

"Luna...I don't think the school newspaper is quite er, ready for Wrackspurt's yet" said Hermione with a trace of barely concealed exasperation

"You wouldn't be saying that if one had flown in through _your_ ears" said Luna tetchily "but fine"

"Okay, just keep an eye on her alright?" said Hermione as the bell rang for first lesson "and tell me if...you know, if you see or hear anything suspicious. And don't tell Harry" she added quietly "and definitely don't mention any of this to Ginny"

Luna nodded and floated out of the Great Hall with Hermione's newspaper article clutched in her hand. As Hermione walked past the Ravenclaw Table, she saw Harry walking ahead of her. Melody grasped his sleeve, beamed at him and the pair fell into conversation. Ginny was fingering her wand nearby.

"Ginny?" said Hermione, hurrying up to her

"Hello Hermione" she said stiffly

"What are you doing? Classes are going to start –"

"I'm deciding on the best angle to use to cast the Bat Bogey Hex on Melody Colton" said Ginny and Hermione took hold of her wrist and lowered it because McGonagall was watching her closely from the staff table.

Harry, disengaging himself from Melody, came over and put an arm around Ginny's shoulders before giving her a kiss on the cheek "everything alright, Hermione?" he said. Ginny put a protective arm around Harry's middle and stared at Melody, but the latter had looked away a while ago.

"Yes, fine" said Hermione "how's the paper coming along?"

"We should have our first edition out soon" said Harry enthusiastically "should be quite good"

"Then you and Colton won't need to see each other anymore, will you?" said Ginny lightly

"Ginny," said Harry "we've already –"

"Will you?" said Ginny dangerously and Harry shrank back a little

"Well" he began in a measured voice "there will be more issues to do in the future so –"

"I'm going to Charms" said Ginny and walked purposefully out of the Great Hall.

"Is it worth it?" said Hermione as she and Harry followed, on their way to Transfiguration

"Is what worth it?" said Harry distractedly. His eyes were on Ginny's back

"Is being on this stupid school paper worth compromising your relationship with Ginny?" said Hermione

"Not you as well!" said Harry

"She fancies you" said Hermione plainly "and she wants you –"

"I'm quite capable of handling my relationship with Ginny, Hermione" said Harry "I thought you'd approve of me being on the school paper anyway? McGonagall told me extracurricular activities look good on school records and CV's and if I want to be an Auror –"

"Then join the Transfiguration Club, or the Seventh Year Study Soceity" said Hermione "because I'm sure you don't need experience of journalism to be an Auror, Harry"

Draco was leaning against the banister of the marble staircase in front of them, watching this exchange with the trademark smirk in place. Hermione scowled at him

"Potter" said Draco as they passed

"Malfoy" said Harry "I'm going to the Common Room to get my revision Hermione. Coming?"

"You'll be late for class" warned Hermione "you should have got it before breakfast"

Harry shrugged and jogged up the stairs, leaving Hermione to make her way to lesson alone. Draco fell into step beside her "trouble with the Golden Trio?" he said "Potter didn't seem too pleased with you"

"Firstly" said Hermione, coming to a halt "it's none of your business. Secondly, I'm going to be late for class so please piss off. Thirdly, you're a prick" she quickened her pace up the staircase but Draco quickly caught up with her as she reached the corridor above. She made to turn left towards the next set of stairs but Draco caught her roughly around the waist and pulled her to the right, past the tapestry and into the abandoned corridor where she had found Harry and Melody.

"What are you playing at?" Hermione hissed "get off me!" but Draco held her fast "I'll scream" she said

"Will you?" said Draco. He pushed her lightly against the wall. Hermione, having had quite enough of Draco's games, pulled out her wand and pointed it at his crotch

"Seriously" she said "get the fuck off me"

"What are you afraid of, Granger?" said Draco quietly, his hot breath upon her ear, She shivered and Draco smiled

"I am not one of your conquests, Draco" said Hermione, her wand still clutched in her hand "I am not one of those girls who follow you and fawn over you and want nothing more than to bed you. I have no interest in you whatsoever"

"Exactly " said Draco enigmatically. He skimmed a hand across her hip, across her stomach and whispered "I will have you, Granger"

There was a bang and a yell and Draco was thrown from Hermione and back against the opposite wall "what is your problem, Malfoy?" Hermione said, incensed, tucking her wand into the hem of her skirt

"My problem" said Draco, apparently unfazed by her obvious anger "is that I can have any girl I want in this school, anyone. Except you. I find you," he cast around for the right word "alluring"

Hermione was shaking with rage. Advancing upon Draco she came so close to him that her chest was touching his and this time it was him who shivered "you may have saved my life, Draco" she hissed "but that doesn't mean anything has changed. You will never, ever have me"

Flashes of the battle soared across Hermione's mind as she ran. Running where, she had no idea but she was not going to class, she couldn't, not in this state, not with her mind in turmoil like this

_She was lying on the grass. It was damp, not with dew or rain, but with blood – her blood. Sectumsempra, she decided, was what she had just been hit with and a gaping wound was gouged into her stomach, another on her thigh. Her breath was coming in shallow, desperate gasps and each one sounded like a death rattle. Nobody had noticed her in the confusion – Harry and Ron were perhaps frantic with worry as to where she had disappeared to. Footfalls pounded the ground around her and the combatants that passed possibly thought she was already dead – she must look dead, with all that blood and her eyes half closed. She could not move, but the pain was receding a little. Barely conscious, she listened to the sounds around her, trying in vain to make out a familiar voice but the noise, the voices around her were strangely deadened and she could not make them out properly, they sounded far away and in that moment, Hermione knew she was going to die there, alone and wounded, covered in blood and dirt. At least she had tried; at least she had fought bravely..._

"_Granger?" a voice, a familiar, upper class voice spoke into her ear "Granger, come on get up you stupid cow...come on!"_

_His hands were on her face, wiping away the blood and the tears, pulling back her eyelids. His face was blurred and distorted but she saw white blonde hair, grey eyes and pale skin splattered with blood before her eyelids drooped again "if you die, Granger...for fucks sake...HERMIONE!"_

_He swore again and his hands found her neck, felt her weakened pulse and then his arms were around her and she was lifted away from the blood soaked grass. They were running now and curses shot past them, the heat of the spells burning Hermione's face as they missed by millimetres. Draco was shooting spells from his own wand and his adversaries fell to the ground before them._

_They were in the castle, Draco was hurtling up the crumbling marble stairs, along hallways and corridors and into an empty classroom where he laid Hermione down on a table, tore off his robe and tried to staunch the bleeding coming from her wounds while muttering some sort of healing spell, his wand drawn. She was floating somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness, her breathing shallow "Draco" she murmured in a whisper so quiet that even she barely heard it and then, the world disappeared into darkness._

* * *

"Why did you miss Transfiguration?" asked Ron at dinner that evening. He was looking curiously at her tear stained face

"I didn't feel well" she said "headache"

"and this headache of yours made you cry, did it?" said Ron, raising an eyebrow

"It's all the revision, getting on top of me... it's fine, I'm fine. Honestly, Ron"

Luna sidled up to their table and squashed herself in-between them "hello Ronald" she said

"Hi Luna. How are the Wrackspurts?"

"What's up, Luna?" asked Hermione

"Oh, I just thought you'd like to know that Melody allowed me onto the school paper committee" said Luna, pouring herself a cup of pumpkin juice 'she really liked the article"

"Great" said Hermione "why don't you tell me the rest on the way to History of Magic?"

"But I don't have History of Magic now" said Luna, very unhelpfully

"Yes, well..."said Hermione trailing off and dragging Luna towards the Entrance Hall "so what have you found out?"

"Harry is there quite often" said Luna "and he stays behind a lot after meetings with her to tidy up. You know, I've spoken to Melody about the Wrackspurt article and –"

"Stays behind?" repeated Hermione "what, just her and him?"

"Yes" said Luna "just her and him. She seems to like him rather a lot but I know Harry is going out with Ginny so she really doesn't have a chance"

"And does Harry seem to like her?" pressed Hermione

"Oh, yes I suppose. They spend quite a lot of time together"

"Right, thanks Luna. You'd better get going the bell rang two minutes ago" said Hermione and she headed for History of Magic where the corridors were thankfully, Draco free.

"The 1892 Goblin Rebellion continued for the next twenty years, until Ugnook the Unwary called for a truce..." Professor Binns droned on in his monotone voice while Hermione feverishly took notes and the rest of the class yawned sleepily. That was until the classroom door creaked open and each head turned to see who had entered "...the next century saw many historical happenings in the wizarding community which are worth noting and if you proceed to turn to page eighty four, you will see that –" continued Professor Binns, completely unaware that Draco Malfoy had just strode in between the desks. Hermione followed his progress, absolutely fuming.

"Professor?" he said and the ghost teacher paused. Ron and Harry looked curiously from Hermione, to Draco to Professor Binns and back again.

"What is it Mr. Miller?" he said

"Professor McGonagall would like to see Miss Granger in her office, sir" said Draco politely

"Very well, Mr Miller" said Binns distractedly "Miss Ginger, you are excused. Now, as I was saying before our interruption, if you turn to page eighty four and look at paragraph 7b..."

"I take it you were lying about McGonagall wanting to speak to me?" said Hermione, closing the door behind her and folding her arms "I knew you were a selfish prat, Malfoy but even I didn't think you'd stoop so low as to lie to a teacher and take me out of class. What do you keep playing pointless games with me for, Draco?"

"Come for that walk now?" he said

"No way!" said Hermione "please, Draco" she said, lowering her voice "just leave me alone" her eyes began to sting and she wasn't entirely sure why

"We need to talk" said Draco, almost beseechingly "please?"

"And this couldn't wait for class to finish?" said Hermione, turning her head away so Draco would not see her watery eyes

"No" he said. He lifted his hand and put a finger under her chin so she would face him again "just give me five minutes. You can go back to class afterwards and I won't bother you anymore. I just..." he swallowed, apparently gathering his thoughts "I just need to speak with you"

Hermione looked into his eyes and to her surprise, saw nothing but sincerity there. His expression was not smug or defiant or playful or mocking as it usually was, but soft and genuine. Hermione had only seen that expression on Draco's face once before and that was after he had saved her life and it was this, rather than anything else that made her go with him "five minutes" she said "you have five minutes"

Draco smiled "come on" he lead her downstairs and into the Entrance Hall

"Where are we going?" she asked

"Somewhere quiet" he replied. They went outside, down the stone steps, past the greenhouses and Hagrid's cabin and it was not until they had reached a secluded area of the lakeside and Hermione was about to say she hadn't the time for this and turn and go back, that Draco came to a halt. He sat down in the shade of a large oak and pulled Hermione down next to him.

"Well?" she said "let's hear it". His knee was touching hers, but for some reason, Hermione did not move away.

"We've never talked about what happened last year" said Draco, refusing to look at her "and you've never even said thank you"

"Why now?" said Hermione tremulously "what do you want with me, Draco? What do you want?"

He didn't answer, just stared at his lap with an angry expression on his face so Hermione continued "you want to know why I haven't sought you out to talk about it?" she said "because I don't _want_ to remember, I don't _want_ to talk about it. And you...you following me, _stalking_ me, trying to get inside my head brings it all back and I don't want that, I don't want you!" her breathing was heavy, laboured as though she had just ran to that space by the lake rather than walked

"You're still standing here because of me!" Draco shouted, his head snapping up to look at her properly "I could have let you die there, Granger but I risked my own life to save yours! You can't ignore that!"

Hermione could not believe what she was hearing "you think I owe you something now?" she said in a quiet and deadly voice "I owe you nothing, Malfoy, nothing"

"Listen to me" he said, taking hold of both her arms and holding onto them tightly "those girls, all of them they're all sluts –"

"Tell me something I don't know" said Hermione

"- I don't care about them –"

"I know that too"

"I couldn't give a damn about any of them and alright, I didn't think I gave a damn about you either, I didn't think I gave a shit whether you lived past that battle but then...then I saw you...there"

Hermione looked at him and blinked. A tear fell down her cheek

"And I don't know, I couldn't leave you, I couldn't walk past. When I saw you, I thought you were already dead and I wanted to walk away, trust me right then I wanted to walk away but it was impossible and then, then I saw you were alive but you were dying, and you would have died if I hadn't carried you to that classroom" he hesitated and Hermione's hand seemed to automatically reach out and rest upon the back of Draco's own. He held it still "you don't go through something like that together and not have feelings" he finished "you just don't"

Hermione gave him a watery smile. It was almost regretful "you don't care for me, Draco. You saved my life because you're a good person and I really believe that, but you don't care for me. You think you do, you think you do because everything is still so raw but in time, you'll see that it's just lust, Draco. You said yourself you can have any girl you want in this school and you want me because you can't have me and you are the type of person who always wants what they can't have, always wants more than they've already got" she moved her hand away and placed it on her lap "you can't have me, because I don't love you. I thought maybe I would, right afterwards when we were in St Mungo's, I thought I might have feelings but I was wrong. I'm so sorry" she stood up, tears falling thickly onto her shirt and ran towards the castle. Coming to a stop several feet away, she said "thank you for saving my life, Draco" and she left him standing there, hurt, angry, bewildered and disappointed.

**Thanks for reading! Make sure you write a review, it'll only take about five seconds of your time! :) I'm thinking of changing the title of this story, let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note - I've changed the end of this chapter recently so I can carry on with the story and develop it more...the last ending of this chapter felt a bit rushed.**

Luna had reported that Melody and Harry had arranged to meet together in Hogsmeade that weekend and after a bit of convincing, Luna had agreed to accompany Hermione when she tailed them. Spying on her best friend would undoubtedly make her feel a little guilty but this was certainly important – if Harry was cheating on Ginny she had to find out the truth before confronting the former about the situation.

Hermione did not let her sadness overwhelm her during the following week. She had already cried enough when she returned to her dormitory after having spoken to Draco beside the lake and told herself that was that – no more tears. She could spend her whole life lamenting over the war and the people who lost their lives fighting in it and the fact that she nearly became one of them. She could dissolve into tears for hours about what had been said at the lakeside, continuously run over in her mind how she felt, probe her own feelings for an answer but all it did was make her upset and bad tempered.

Draco had tried to approach her several times but Hermione had been quite firm and ignored him. She would not let him get to her. She could see she was hurting him and more than once he got angry and called her a bitch and a Mudblood and all sorts of nasty names. Not that it mattered to her, he had called her those nasty names a thousand times over before - she was desensitised to his insults now – she was almost used to it. The thing was, she couldn't ignore him forever. The logical part of her knew that he wasn't going to give up, he wasn't going to let her go and the situation needed to be resolved. The question was, what was she going to do about it.

The weekend rolled around sooner than Hermione had anticipated and Luna was waiting for Hermione in the Entrance Hall, wearing all black, including her shirt and school skirt, and for some reason known only to Luna, a woollen balaclava. Hermione had only recognised her because of the tufts of dirty blonde hair sticking out of the bottom and her traditional necklace of Butterbeer corks.

"Er" said Hermione "Luna, why are you wearing a balaclava?"

"I thought we should go incognito" she whispered, gazing shiftily around the Entrance Hall as though searching for any suspicious activity. A group of Hufflepuff second years chuckled as they walked past her "you know, we might as well do this properly. I brought you one" she said, taking another balaclava from her pocket

"It's okay" said Hermione "I think I'll pass"

"Suit yourself" said Luna "shall we go then? I saw them leave five minutes before you turned up"

They walked down the lawns together, past the school gates and out onto the pathway lined with brambles and tangled hedgerows, Luna looking quite ridiculous in her balaclava and Hermione walking in step with her. She could see two figures ahead of them and she recognised Harry's profile at once. As they continued onwards, she saw Harry throw back his head with laughter and Melody push him playfully in the arm.

"Stay to the side" said Luna who was taking the whole matter rather seriously "we don't want them to spot us"

They arrived onto the High Street and watched from a distance as Harry and Melody bypassed the Three Broomsticks and headed past Honeydukes and Scrivenshafts. They walked by the Post Office and Hermione saw them ascend the grassy hill which lead towards the Shrieking Shack. Luna pulled her balaclava lower down and pulled up her collar before turning to Hermione and saying "we can hide behind those trees on the hill"

"Good idea" she said and they crept to the left where a group of closely growing saplings stood. They crouched down in the branches and listened closely to the conversation Harry and Melody were having a few metres away from their hiding place.

"...good idea Melody but I can't really give any more time to the committee, I've got all this revision and Quidditch practice –"

Melody smiled sweetly at Harry and placed her hand on his arm "oh Harry" she said "have you not realised it by now?"

"Realised what?" said Harry whom Hermione could tell was genuinely confused

"That I didn't ask you to join the school paper just because you know a lot about Quidditch" she took a step closer and daringly, wrapped her arms around Harry's neck. Hermione was seething and wanted nothing more at that moment than to jump out from behind the trees and hex that stupid saccharin smile off that man-stealing cow's face

"Not yet" said Luna, interpreting Hermione's mutinous expression correctly

"What –" said Harry but Melody silenced him with a kiss, a full on kiss on the mouth and Hermione drew her wand but was so stunned she fumbled and dropped it. Harry wasn't pushing her away, he wasn't doing anything to stop her at all – he was _responding._

"Get off of him you bitch" Hermione hissed and Luna put a hand on her shoulder

"Shh!" she said "just wait"

They had broken apart. Harry looked alarmed; shocked at what he had just done "I can't do this" he said "I can't... that was a mistake, the biggest mistake –"

"You can do this, Harry" said Melody "you don't need_ her_, you don't want _her_ –"

"Unfortunately for you,_ her _is right here"

Hermione gasped. Ginny had appeared from nowhere, her eyes alive with fury and brimming with tears.

"Ginny!" said Melody "this isn't...he came onto me, Ginny, I –" but she was silenced by one look from the red head who strode forwards. Even Harry looked a little scared. She stopped right in front of Melody and slapped her squarely on the face with such force Melody was knocked from her feet. Drawing her wand, Ginny advanced on her "you go near him again, I will hex you within an inch of your life you nasty, lying, malicious little slut. And as for you" she added, turning now to Harry. Her hands were shaking. She raised her wand slightly and Harry looked down at her with watery eyes. "Ginny, I –"

SMACK

Ginny had balled her fist and punched him – actually punched him and very hard "don't you ever, _ever _do that to me again you bastard" she said while Harry held his bleeding nose "I'll be in the Common Room when you want to apologise and give me an explanation and I'm warning you Harry, it had better be a bloody good one" and with one last disgusted look at Melody, Ginny turned on her heel and marched from the scene, vanishing over the crest of the hill.

"I think Ginny has this under control now" said Luna calmly "shall we go for a drink?"

"Yeah" said Hermione, feeling furious at Melody and a little sorry for Harry, even though she agreed with Ginny and thought that punch was entirely justified "I should go and talk to him really" she said

"I think that perhaps that would make things worse right now" said Luna evenly "I don't think he would like to hear you have been following him and spying on him"

"No" said Hermione "you're probably right"

"Come on" said Luna "I really fancy a Gillywater"

"I can't believe he kissed her back" said Hermione, stunned. She looked ahead for any sign of Ginny making her way back to the High Street, but she had disappeared.

"I don't think he really wanted to kiss her" said Luna fairly "she sort of... attacked him. I think he was surprised and embarrassed and did the first thing that came into his head and that was to kiss her back" Hermione smiled and wondered if Luna knew just how observant she was sometimes "and he did push her away eventually, when he came to his senses. I think," Luna went on "that Harry is a good person. I don't think he meant to hurt Ginny at all"

"No" said Hermione "but he'll be paying for that slip up later, Ginny won't let this go"

"I don't think any of us expect her to" said Luna simply "do you know, I rather like this balaclava, I might get one in a different colour"

They trudged back to the High Street and Hermione smiled while she listened to Luna go on about Wrackspurts without interruption this time.

The Three Broomsticks was noisy, crowded and full of laughing students. Hermione and Luna chose a table near the window and sat down together with a Butterbeer and a Gillywater. Something had just occurred to Hermione. She took a mouthful of Butterbeer, turned to Luna and said

"You told her, didn't you?"

"What?"

"You told Ginny Harry and Melody were meeting in Hogsmeade today and you got her to tail us while we were following them"

Luna drained half her Gillywater, peered at Hermione through the eyeholes in her balaclava and said "I believed that Ginny deserved to know. She's my friend and I didn't want to keep it from her. I knew she would sort it out herself. And she did, didn't she? What did you intend to do once you had evidence Harry was cheating?"

"Confront Harry" said Hermione and Luna opened her mouth to reply but quickly closed it again. Her eyes were resting upon someone behind Hermione who turned sharply to find Draco standing there.

"Hi" he said

"Hi yourself" said Hermione

"Still hate me?"

"Not here" said Hermione quietly. A group of Slytherin girls were standing beside the bar, eyeing Hermione resentfully "outside" possibly against her better judgement, Hermione lead Draco out of the door and into the street where several more girls passed and shot Hermione nasty looks

"You know I have to put up with _that_ every time I talk to you?" said Hermione, loud enough for the girls to hear. They glanced over their shoulders at her, but kept walking.

"Sorry, I can't help it if I'm devastatingly handsome" said Draco, grinning at her. Hermione didn't smile

"You're despicable" spat Hermione "you really think a lot of yourself, don't you?"

"Yes" said Draco. He hesitated then said "you've been avoiding me"

"No?" said Hermione sarcastically

"You can be very cruel sometimes" said Draco and then grimaced and shook his head as though he wished he hadn't said it

"I didn't think you had feelings" said Hermione harshly "I didn't think you got hurt"

"Yeah, well..." said Draco vaguely "look, let me buy you a drink and –"

"And what?" said Hermione "what then? You keep on playing this stupid game with me? Pretending you care for me so you can get in my knickers?"

"Ok, fine!" said Draco, throwing his arms up in defeat "it was like that at first –"

"It still is, Draco" said Hermione softly and then she walked away, up the High Street and towards the castle without looking back and Draco didn't even attempt to follow her.

Hermione reached the Fat Lady, wiping her eyes and sniffing and gave the password. The Fat Lady eyed her concernedly.

The Common Room was almost empty. Everyone was either at lunch or still in Hogsmeade, but there were two people standing in the centre of the room, a foot apart from each other and apparently having a massive argument. Ginny had her wand drawn and was pointing it straight at Harry's chest. Neither of them had noticed Hermione come in.

"You dare!" Ginny screamed "after everything you said to me after the war, all those promises! You're a liar; you didn't mean any of it!"

"I meant every word!" Harry yelled back "I made a bloody mistake, Ginny, alright? A stupid mistake, the most stupid thing I've ever done in my entire life!"

"You cheated on me, Harry!" Ginny shrieked and a cluster of white sparks flew from the end of her wand

"It's not like I slept with her!" shouted Harry

"How do I know?" said Ginny, drawing closer to him "how do I fucking know that, eh? How can I trust you?" she took a deep breath. Her hands were shaking with rage "how do I know you haven't had her in your bed!"

"Because I haven't!"

"YOU'RE A FUCKING LIAR! SHE TOLD ME!" Ginny bellowed and there were tears in her eyes now

"She's lying to you" said Hermione and the pair turned simultaneously to stare at her "whatever Melody has told you, Ginny it's a pack of lies"

"You stay out of this!" Ginny snapped and turning to look at Harry again she said "we're over" and she ran up the girls' staircase, sobbing.

"Ginny..." said Harry weakly

Hermione looked at him sympathetically "Harry, you –"

"Leave me alone, Hermione" said Harry morosely and he too left the Common Room, slamming the portrait hole door behind him.

The following morning at breakfast, the school arrived in the Great Hall to find a copy of the _Hogwarts Times_ upon every placemat. Even Dumbledore was reading one, although admittedly he had a small frown upon his face. Hermione sat down next to Ron and picked up her copy and almost dropped her spoon when she saw the headline:

_HARRY POTTER – HERO OR ZERO?_

It was accompanied by a large photo of Harry wearing his Quidditch robes and Hermione, fuming, started to read:

_After conducting several interviews with the Boy Who Lived, the Hogwarts Times can reveal that Harry Potter is perhaps not the naturally talented Quidditch player he would like us all to believe. Mere days before this first edition came into publication, Harry Potter admitted to our reporters that he has been using a Supersensory Charm since his first year to improve his skills on the pitch. He confided to us that he and his ex-girlfriend, Ginny Weasley, who incidentally, is rumoured to have used a Self-Answering Quill on her O.W.L's, have been the only two people aware of this startling secret – until now. Undoubtedly, Madam Hooch and Professor Dumbledore will be looking into these rumours and will take appropriate action to ensure Harry Potter does not continue to cheat his way into ensuring victories for Gryffindor on the Quidditch pitch._

_The Gryffindor versus Slytherin match is due to take place this Sunday afternoon at two pm and I am sure our readers, like us, would like to hear that Harry Potter is suspended from participating. As I am sure all our readers are aware, use of spells such as Supersensory Charms in sporting events is strictly prohibited and doubtless Harry Potter will be required to explain his actions before he is permitted to play Quidditch for Gryffindor again._

_For details of the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams' line up for Sunday's match, see page eight. For details of Ginny Weasley's alleged use of a Self-Answering Quill on her O.W.L's, see page seven._

"Not related to Rita Skeeter, is she?" said Ron mildly who had been reading the article over Hermione's shoulder

"Yes, she is" said Luna, plonking herself down in the seat next to Hermione "she told me yesterday. Rita Skeeter is her aunt. And your article isn't in there, Hermione. She didn't publish it. She told me she decided not to as nobody was interested in a History of Magic Club. I'm still on the committee, though"

"History of Magic Club?" said Ron, chuckling "yeah, that'd get loads of members, Hermione"

"Who does she think she is?" said Hermione angrily "how dare she! Where's Harry and Ginny?"

"Haven't seen Ginny since last night. Harry's been on the Quidditch pitch since dawn" said Ron "have they really broken up?"

"Yes" said Hermione sadly "yeah, they have" she threw the paper down and stood up

"Where are you going?" said Ron

"To find Melody Colton" said Hermione

Hermione had her wand drawn and her face set into an expression of furious disbelief. Seducing Harry was bad enough but conspiring to tarnish both his and Ginny's reputation made the whole thing even more despicable and Hermione was not going to put up with that. There were tears in her eyes but she wasn't sure why and she practically ran through the corridors, flinging open empty classroom doors as she did so, determined to search the whole bloody school if she had to –

"Hermione?"

"Oh not you..." she said as Draco turned the corner

"What are you crying for?"

"Melody fucking Colton" said Hermione and a sob escaped her lips before she could stop it

"You've read it too then?" said Draco "but really," he added quietly "why are you crying?"

Hermione breathed hard "I don't know" she said truthfully "I really don't know"

Draco stepped forward, slowly at first but then quickly, his footsteps echoing around the corridor and Hermione didn't even attempt to move away when he reached her and put an arm around her. She looked up into his face and a tear dripped down her nose and landed on his chest.

"I don't need you" she said, pushing him away and feeling ashamed of herself

"Yes you do" Draco replied

"I don't"

"You d –"

"I DON'T!" Hermione shouted and then covered her mouth with her hand, shocked at her own sudden outburst. They stood in silence for several long moments, the sound of her yell still ringing in both their ears

"Things have changed, Hermione" said Draco and his voice in comparison to Hermione's, was even and calm "everything changed the moment I carried you away from that battlefield and you know it"

Hermione sighed, rubbed her forehead wearily, not knowing quite what to say to this. She lifted her head to look at him and she looked at him closely, closer than she ever had done before. He was lithe and tall and straight backed and carried himself with an air of importance as he always had done, there was nothing different there. His eyes were cold. They had always been cold, icy and indifferent and this had not changed, yet there was a trace of something more there now. Perhaps it was empathy. She followed his jaw line and cheekbones, his pale, clear skin and the small scar beneath his chin sustained during the battle. For a fraction of a second, she wondered what that skin would feel like beneath her fingers.

"I don't understand what you want" she said at last. He stared back at her and there was something like longing in those clear, cold eyes now and a thrill of expectation swirled in her stomach. She knew what he was going to do before he had even reached her and she wondered why she didn't stop it. Her lips fell onto his and the world around her seemed to disappear.

"Did you find her?" said Ron. It was lunchtime but Hermione was not the slightest bit hungry. Draco was sitting at the Slytherin table, but he didn't look at her. Ron prodded her in the arm "hello?" he said

"What? Oh, no I didn't find her"

"Well you wouldn't have done" said Luna, drifting over to them

"Do you ever sit at your own table?" said Ron. Luna ignored him

"Melody has been in the Hospital Wing all day" said Luna "that is why you didn't find her, Hermione"

"What happened?"

"Ginny happened" said Luna "Melody's come out in these bright green pustules. Madam Pomfrey has been trying to get rid of them all day. And Dumbledore has personally given her a week's worth of detentions. He came up to the Ravenclaw Common Room, this was before Ginny attacked her, obviously and he said that the Hogwarts Times was not an excuse for her to spread nasty rumours about people from other houses and that she was no longer allowed to be the editor"

Hermione grinned

"So who's the new editor?" asked Ron

"I am" said Luna proudly "see you later Hermione, Ronald"

"I've got a feeling we're going to be learning a lot more about Crumple Horned Snorcacks and Wrackspurts from now on" said Ron.

Hermione was becoming increasingly worried about Harry. By the time Sunday came around, she had not seen him all week. He had been spending much of his time on the Quidditch pitch, he barely ever came to meals in the Great Hall and instead of doing his N.E.W.T revision and homework in the Common Room or library, he would go to his dormitory to complete it and hide away from everyone else.

Ginny was not much happier although she was doing her best to ensure everyone thought she was. She would laugh and joke about with her friends and join in conversations with Hermione and Ron. Whenever Harry was nearby however, she ignored him completely and made an excuse to leave.

Meanwhile, Melody was still in the Hospital Wing with no visible improvements made to the vivid green pustules covering her face. The next issue of the _Hogwarts Times _was due out on Monday and Hermione was quite looking forward to reading it now Luna was the new editor – Luna had promised her that she would publish her article and had even offered her a place on the committee. Hermione however, who had quite enough on her plate at the moment, politely declined.

Draco had not spoken to her all week following their kiss in the corridor but had merely shot her flirty, knowing little smiles when they passed each other in the hallways or in class. Hermione wondered at first whether he regretted it and thought of it as a mistake which made her angry and upset in equal measure but then, she decided, if she knew Draco at all it was more likely he was either doing it to keep her on her toes or to give her thinking time which admittedly, she needed.

A part of her wished she had never kissed him back at all and that was the part of her that remembered what a selfish, stuck up arsehole he was. The other part of her kept replaying the kiss in her mind, dwelling on it and she found herself smiling every time this happened. What was going to happen next however, was really puzzling her. Did this mean they were going to get together, start dating? The mere idea of this was laughable – her, Draco Malfoy's girlfriend? Ha! And, if she was quite honest with herself, she didn't really want that. Did she?

Draco certainly didn't, Hermione thought. He'd never had a girlfriend in his life, just girls he used, either for their beauty, influence or talent in bed which brought Hermione back to the fact that he really could be a complete prick at times.

Hermione had a shrewd idea that Draco was waiting for her to make the next move, for her to take things to the next step. He wanted her to approach him; she was the one who had to chase him now. Whether she was going to do it, was another matter entirely. If she did join in with this little game he insisted on starting playing, where was it going to lead to?

They had fought a war together; he had seen her with her torn clothes, with tears running down her face, her hair matted with dirt and blood. It had been he who had saved her from her death on that battlefield...

What on earth was she going to do about this?

The afternoon of the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match was crisp and bright. Streams of students spilled down the stone steps, down the lawns and into the stadium in a sea of gold and red and silver and green. Hermione walked down with Luna and Ginny, each of them wearing Gryffindor rosettes and scarves and chattering happily. Luna was carrying a clipboard and seemed to be fully embracing her new role as editor of the _Hogwarts Times._

"I'm going to do a full report on the match for Monday's issue" she said cheerfully as they chose their seats in the stands. Madame Hooch was already on the pitch and a minute later, the two teams emerged from their changing rooms.

Hermione felt a curious leap in her stomach as Draco stepped out. The girls in the stands shrieked and cheered and fluttered their eye lashes and adjusted their cleavages. Hermione snorted. Draco looked up to the Gryffindor side of the stands and caught Hermione's eye but looked away again very quickly, smirking. Ginny's face was impassive as she watched Harry stride into the centre of the pitch and shake the Slytherin captain's hand.

"Harry's very good, isn't he?" said Luna fifteen minutes later after Harry had successfully dodged a Bludger pelted towards him by one of the Slytherin Chasers, accompanied by loud hisses and boos and cheers from the stands. Ginny clapped him politely. Slytherin was twenty points ahead so far and Hermione, who had been helping Luna scribble down details of the match, saw a glitter of gold coming from near the Slytherin goalposts "look, the Snitch!" she said, poking both Luna and Ginny in the arms.

Harry hadn't seen it but Draco apparently had for he was soaring across the pitch as fast as he could. Harry noticed what Draco was doing a second too late. He turned his Firebolt and gave chase and was inches away from the Snitch when Draco caught it. The stands exploded with more cheers and boos and the Slytherin supporters roared in jubilation while the Gryffindor side groaned and Draco did a lap of the pitch, holding the Snitch high above his head.

"Harry was distracted" said Luna disappointedly "he hasn't been himself recently"

Hermione glanced furtively at Ginny who for some reason looked quite tearful.

The match over, the school started to walk back to the castle "come on, lets go" said Ginny dully, pulling the rosette from her robes and throwing it to the ground.

Hermione followed them. The Slytherin team was in front, making their way back up the lawns and Hermione automatically looked for Draco, but he wasn't there.

"Oops" she said "I've left my cloak on my seat. You two go ahead, I'll talk to you later" and she hurried back towards the stadium.

"She wasn't wearing a cloak" said Luna quizzically to Ginny.

The Quidditch stadium changing rooms were located in a wide and spacious building on ground level with the pitch. The door was ajar and Hermione pushed it open. It smelt of cleaning fluid and laundry inside and her heels clicked on the polished mahogany floor as she walked past the girls' changing rooms and feeling a sudden sort of reckless abandon, headed around the corner to the boys'.

It smelt of cologne and mildly fragranced soap in here. The smell was somehow familiar to her and she breathed it in as she crept down an aisle in between the rows of battered old wooden lockers. And then, she squealed. Her wand was in her hand within a millisecond and she turned sharply, only to come face to face with Draco who had decided to grab her from behind only to let go of her the moment she had drawn her wand.

"I wondered how long you'd stay away for" said Draco looking at her with a smirk.

"Congratulations on winning the match" Hermione told him, making pointless small talk. She had decided to follow Draco in here on a whim, a spur of the moment decision that she had not entirely thought out properly. She wanted to put a stop to this stupid game, talk to him, sort this whole complicated situation out once and for all but she hadn't a clue where to begin.

"Thanks," Draco replied "but I only got the Snitch because Potter was so distracted..." he added grudgingly "he kept looking at the Weasley girl in the stands, couldn't keep his eyes off her. Personally, I don't see the attraction but whatever"

"Harry is worried about Ginny because they broke up" Hermione explained as one of the Slytherin beaters emerged from around a corner. He gave Hermione a curious glance, congratulated Draco on catching the Snitch and departed.

"Really?" said Draco interestedly "well, Potter's always had a lack of tact around women, hasn't he?" Draco smirked at his own joke and turned to stuff his Quidditch robes into a bag.

"Are we alone now?" Hermione asked as the changing room doors banged shut behind the Slytherin beater.

"Looks like it" Draco replied "why? What do you have planned?" Draco raised his eyebrows at her.

"Oh grow up!" Hermione said wearily. She dropped onto a bench with a sigh. "I thought we should talk"

"About what?" Draco asked her innocently. He smiled at her in that knowing sort of way. Hermione knew he wasn't going to make this any easier for her.

"About what happened...during the battle" said Hermione, staring at her knees. She heard Draco walk over and seat himself on the bench next to her. He didn't say anything; he was waiting for her to talk.

"I've always wondered..." Hermione began, still averting her eyes from Draco's "why you did it, why you saved me"

"We were on the same side" Draco replied "you would have done the same for me..." he added but there was a hint of uncertainty in his tone.

"Yes," said Hermione, wanting to reassure him all of a sudden that yes, she would have done the same for him in a second "of course I would" she paused and listened to the steady drip of a recently used shower, the gurgling of the pipes. "But you've always hated me" she said and her voice came out weak and childish.

Draco laughed but humourlessly "right" he said "yeah, I've always hated you" his voice was sarcastic.

"But you have!" Hermione insisted, finally turning her face to look at him "all those years...all those taunts and insults...you hated me, I'm a Mudblood, right?"

Draco turned his gaze away from her and stared at the lockers opposite "I learned a lot last year" he said "I grew up a lot. I guess I should thank Potter and the Order really, for making me a better person" it was Draco who paused now "I didn't hate you...I didn't know you. You were Potter's friend and calling you a Mudblood, all those horrible things I said to you...I can't excuse myself because yes I meant them at the time. I regret all of it and I've learned since then that none of it matters. Pure blood, half-blood, Muggle-born, blood traitor...it doesn't matter, any of it. It's all a load of shit. I should have realised earlier but there you go. Happy now?"

"You...you barely spoke to me at Grimmauld Place, you barely looked at me" said Hermione quietly "we lived in the same house for months –"

"Yeah well, I'd started to understand by then what a complete twat I'd been and quite frankly, Granger I was too proud to apologise. I was afraid you wouldn't accept it if I did say sorry, and I wouldn't have blamed you if you did. What words could I say to make up for all that? So I decided to ignore you and accepted the fact that we would never get along and that after the war you would go and live your life and I'd never see you again. Cowardly I know, but don't forget who you're talking to here, Granger"

"I don't think you're cowardly" Hermione told him honestly and Draco looked at her. There was gratefulness for her words in his expression but it vanished a second later and he merely smiled a little, perhaps to cover up that betrayal of emotion. Hermione didn't say anything, it was up to Draco to keep talking for now, she decided.

Apparently unable to withstand the silence that had fallen between them, Draco said suddenly "Like I said before, everything changed the moment I saw you on that battlefield. There were curses flying everywhere, I could have run, escaped...but I risked my own life to save yours and in that second, in that fleeting moment when I made the decision to think of you instead of myself...when I saw you in St Mungos in the bed across from me and all I could think was that I was so pleased you were alive...I realised that I cared. Just because I didn't speak to you much at Order Headquarters doesn't mean I wasn't watching you, understanding the sort of person you were...getting attached"

"Attached?" Hermione repeated the word, wanting Draco to explain it further.

"Attached, fond, whatever!" said Draco "I'd never encountered a girl quite like you before, what with all your bravery and unfaltering empathy, selflessness...your wit, emotional depth, loyalty to your friends." Draco had looked away from her again, seemingly unable to look her in the eye while he listed what he liked about her.

"You fancied me then" Hermione concluded.

Draco chuckled "I wouldn't say that...it wasn't just some sort of crush, an attraction it was much less trivial than that to me. And I wasn't in love with you either, before you suggest that. I realised I wanted to be a part of your life...the life that I'd saved. I wanted to get to know you more, and trust me; there a few girls I meet who I genuinely want to get to know"

"Yes, well I realised that" said Hermione, thinking of the girl in the library whose name Draco hadn't even bothered to learn properly "I think you underestimate yourself, your bravery and loyalty" she told him "Dumbledore mentioned to me before he sometimes think Hogwarts sorts too soon...I agree"

"Well, I wouldn't want to be in Gryffindor" said Draco but he was smiling "I don't think I could stand being in the same House as Longbottom and the Weasel"

Hermione did not smile at Draco's attempt at diffusing the awkwardness, the tension. Draco was trying to take the seriousness out of the situation, make it easier to handle but Hermione did not want to do so. "You said you're fond of me" she said quietly "I'm assuming nothing has changed"

The smile faded from Draco's face "No" he said, staring into her eyes "nothing"

They gazed at each other. The expression Draco had on his face was serious, curious. He moved closer and placed a hand on her cheek and Hermione leaned forwards...

The changing room doors burst open loudly and Hermione leapt away and jumped to her feet. A moment later, a group of giggling girls had run into the boys changing rooms and they scurried towards Draco, chattering and laughing.

"There you are!" said one very pretty, very slim girl with glossy blond hair and a beaming smile "there's an after match party in the common room, you simply have to be there, Draco!" she said "we've been looking for you!" and put her arm around his waist as another two girls hurried excitedly forwards to tug Draco towards the doors.

A couple of other girls, one a brunette with manicured nails and skilfully applied makeup said to her equally immaculately made up friend "What's Draco doing with _her?_" without bothering to keep her voice down. Hermione glared at them but they didn't seem to care.

"I don't know...look at her, she's so plain" commented her friend as though Hermione hadn't heard "you'd think she would make more of an effort with herself...what a mess"

"A party?" said Draco uncertainly "now?"

"Yes now, silly!" said the pretty blonde, giving Draco's waist a squeeze "let's go!"

"Well," said Draco, his self-important attitude reappearing at once "I guess the Seeker who won the match had better not be absent, then"

"Of course not!" said the blonde in an irritating voice.

Draco was pulled along with the gang of girls and Hermione, furious, followed them and tried to catch Draco's eye. He looked back at her as they reached the doors, the gleeful grin he had shown to the blonde girl gone. He looked at her apologetically but the blonde girl whispered something in his ear and he was smiling again. The girl shot Hermione a nasty look as the changing room doors slammed shut behind them all and Hermione was left quite alone in the humid room with tearful eyes, feeling quite crushed.


	3. Chapter 3

Hermione walked down to breakfast the following day with Harry and Ron. Harry was as depressed as ever and Ron was complaining loudly about Gryffindor's Slytherin defeat in the Quidditch match yesterday and defending Harry's failure to catch the Snitch.

"Of course you weren't on top form!" Ron was saying to Harry who remained silent and brooding "what with all this stuff with Ginny...seriously mate, don't worry about it she'll come round soon, you know what girls are like and you know Malfoy would never have caught that Snitch if you were concentrating properly"

Hermione, keen to make Harry feel better, spoke without thinking "even Malfoy admitted yesterday afternoon after the match your lack of concentration gave him the advantage" she said. "I heard him talking with the Slytherin Captain" she added hastily.

"When was this?" Ron mused "I didn't see Malfoy anywhere after the match, I would have thought he'd have spent the rest of the afternoon strutting around the corridors showing off, the little git. And where did you disappear to, anyway?" Ron added questioningly "Ginny said you'd gone back to the stands to get your cloak, but you didn't go back to the common room..."

"Yes, well I went to the library of course" said Hermione quickly "I wanted some peace and quiet"

"I thought the library shut at about five on Fridays...it's Madam Pince's evening off, isn't it?" said Ron to Hermione's immense annoyance.

"Well she had obviously chosen to keep it open later than usual" Hermione replied "oh look, there's Luna" and Hermione hurried ahead to greet her.

Luna was making her way towards the Great Hall, wearing her old Butterbeer cork necklace and holding a copy of The Hogwarts Times.

"Oh, hello Hermione" she said politely "how are you?"

"I've been better" Hermione admitted. "How is the Hogwarts Times coming along?"

"Very well, I'm really excited about it and daddy is so proud of me. Hello Harry, Ronald"

Harry and Ron had caught up with Hermione.

"There's an article about yesterday's Quidditch match in the school paper today" said Luna serenely "you should both read it"

"Er," said Ron, glancing at Harry who mumbled "see you in a bit" and skulked off into the Great Hall.

"Best not to go on about the match to Harry, Luna" said Ron.

"Ah" said Luna wisely "Losers Lurgy, is it?"

At that moment, Draco Malfoy strolled past them with a few Slytherins, most of whom were girls although Hermione noticed that he didn't look very cheerful or keen to be with them. He nodded at Ron and caught Hermione's eye. She looked at him sternly and he looked away and went into the Great Hall.

"Draco Malfoy is very popular now, isn't he" remarked Luna.

"There should be a rematch" grumbled Ron as he watched Malfoy walk past "it was unfair...Harry wasn't focusing enough"

"I don't think Madame Hooch will permit a rematch just because Harry is unhappy about breaking up with Ginny" reasoned Hermione "have you managed to find anything out about that, by the way?" Hermione asked Ron as they walked into the Great Hall with Luna.

"Well, Ginny's still angry" said Ron as Luna said farewell and joined the Ravenclaw Table "like, really angry" he elaborated "Harry's been trying to apologise over and over again but she's not having any of it. I mean, he shouldn't have snogged that Melody girl and I was quite angry when he did it but I know Harry...Luna said that girl jumped him. Harry loves Ginny; the last thing he wanted was for her to break up with him"

Hermione joined Ron on the bench and began buttering a slice of toast. Harry was idly stirring his porridge and kept looking down the table to where Ginny was sitting with her friends. Hermione knew Ginny was aware Harry kept staring at her but she was resolutely ignoring him.

"I think she's dragging this on for far too long, personally" said Hermione who was beginning to feel that Ginny had let Harry suffer enough now. Hermione took a bite of her toast and picked up the latest copy of The Hogwarts Times from in front of her. Luna had done a very good job reporting on the recent Quidditch match but, as Hermione had expected, rather too much of the paper was taken up with details on Nargles and Wrackspurts and there was a whole double page spread dedicated to Crumple Horned Snorcacks. Hermione turned past these articles without bothering to read them and skimmed through an article about the Transfiguration Club.

A few minutes later, during which Luna stopped by the Gryffindor Table to ask everyone's opinions on her first edition as editor (they all insisted it was very good, even the report on Wrackspurts) Hermione noticed Harry was not the only person throwing covert looks at Ginny. Melody Colton had been discharged from the Hospital Wing with her green pimples healed by Madam Pomfrey. She had a sour look on her face and kept glancing up from her copy of The Hogwarts Times to look at Ginny with a mutinous expression on her face. Occasionally, her gaze would go over to where Harry was sitting. Hermione watched her and saw her screw up The Hogwarts Times she had been reading and throw it down onto the table angrily before returning to her cereal. Hermione decided she would keep an eye on her for a while.

Hermione moved her gaze from the Ravenclaw Table to the Slytherin Table where Draco was talking with his friends. She stared at him until he looked at her and when he did, the smile that had been on his face a second before, faltered. Draco would seek her out soon enough, Hermione decided because he wouldn't want to waste all he had admitted to her yesterday evening, he wouldn't want to throw it all away, he would find her and apologise when he gathered enough courage to do it and if he didn't, Hermione thought bleakly, well, she wouldn't be offering him another chance. He could piss off and leave her alone.

Then a thought occurred to Hermione as she watched Neville unsuccessfully trying to practise his Transfiguration skills on a breakfast plate. What right did she have to be angry at all? She thought as Neville's dinner plate promptly exploded, sending shards of china flying across the table. She and Draco were barely even friends; he was quite entitled to do whatever he liked, including abandoning her to enjoy the company of the various promiscuous girls who followed him everywhere he went. The slim blonde girl with the pretty face was whispering something into Draco's ear with a smirk on her face. Both she and Draco turned their heads towards Hermione and Draco looked suddenly angry with his companion. He seized his books, scowled at the blonde girl and marched towards the doors, straight past Hermione who for a second, considered grabbing hold of him and asking what had happened.

"Doesn't look too happy, does he?" commented Ron about Malfoy as Neville gave a weary sigh and pulled another plate towards him "probably fallen out with one of his girlfriends"

"I hadn't noticed" said Hermione as the sound of shattering china echoed again around the Great Hall "Neville, what are you trying to do?" she said.

"Its homework" said Neville with desperation "I'm supposed to be turning this plate," he gestured at the debris scattered across the table "into a toad. If I haven't got it right by this afternoon's Transfiguration lesson, McGonagall's going to kill me; I'm already behind everyone else"

"You'll manage it" Hermione assured him "you're waving your wand around too much, that's why the plates keep exploding"

Hermione spent the rest of her breakfast hour trying to teach Neville how to successfully transfigure his plate and then walked with him, Harry and Ron to Charms. They would be with the Slytherins today, Hermione remembered.

"I reckon I might nearly have it" said Neville optimistically "the plate turned green like a toad, at least"

"Took me ages to master that one, Neville" said Ron reassuringly "even then my toad looked more like a frog but McGonagall seemed to think it was okay"

"This is a practical lesson so wands out please!" squeaked Professor Flitwick cheerily as they all filed into the classroom. "this spell will almost definitely appear on your N.E.W.T exams so I would like everybody's full attention...Mr Finnigan, no more chat for now please and if you would be so kind as to put that magazine away, Miss Brown we can begin"

Seamus fell silent and Lavender shoved her copy of The Hogwarts Times into her bag and Hermione took her books and wand out. Draco was doing the same at his desk across the classroom, looking bad tempered.

"This is a tricky little Charm," Professor Flitwick continued "so we will start by reading the theory first. Open your books to page twenty five and start reading the chapter on Object Charms...I've got a bag of bits and bobs here you can practise on afterwards"

After everyone had finished the chapter, they were required to choose an item from the bag Professor Flitwick had and Charm the object they chose to do something interesting. Marks would be given on imagination and spell quality. Hermione had picked a tiny model bird and it only took her five minutes to enchant it so it looked like a bluebird and fluttered around the classroom over people's heads, singing a pleasant tune.

"Wonderful, Miss Granger!" said Flitwick as the little bird fluttered down and perched on the brim of his hat "full marks!"

Ron was struggling with his object, an empty glass. Hermione watched him with interest and amusement as he worked, finally succeeding in filling the glass with water.

Hermione rolled her eyes "that's too simple" she told him "we're supposed to be being imaginative" she checked that Flitwick wasn't looking and quickly tapped Ron's glass with her wand. The water started to change colour, from pink to orange, to purple and blue.

"Brilliant, Hermione!" said Ron appreciatively as he watched his water go from sunshine yellow to lime green and back again.

Harry was working on a wrapped sweet, apparently trying to get it to change flavour and Neville had already managed to make the pencil he was supposed to be working on snap in half and had to ask Flitwick for something else to use.

Hermione could not see what Draco was doing as he had his back turned to her but a moment after she had looked toward him, something brightly coloured and glittering had floated off his desk and was sailing slowly through the air a few metres above the class. It soared over Hermione's head and then floated gently downwards and landed on the desk in front of her. Hermione stared at it. It was a flower, an exceptionally beautiful flower of pale pink and lilac with soft, iridescent, glittering petals that twinkled prettily in the sunshine streaming through the classroom window. It had caught the attention of Professor Flitwick who tottered over and picked it up off Hermione's desk to examine it before she could object.

"Ah, this is lovely...an example of excellent work" said Flitwick "but Miss Granger, you have already completed the assignment...I'm not permitted to give you extra credit for this –"

"It's not mine, Professor" said Hermione, aware that most of the class was now looking at her "its Malfoy's. It fluttered over here by accident"

"Is this correct?" Flitwick asked of Draco who replied simply

"It wasn't an accident, sir"

"Well, Mr Malfoy its full marks for you also. Very clever, very clever indeed" said Flitwick, replacing the flower on Hermione's desk and retreating back to his own looking pleased.

Ron leaned over the table and gave the flower a prod with his wand which caused its delicate petals to wilt and drain of colour.

"What did you do that for?" Hermione snapped before she could stop herself.

"I was checking it wasn't going to turn into a spider or something...that's just the sort of trick Malfoy would find funny...I was trying to help. Surely you didn't want to keep it?"

"No, of course not. I don't know what Malfoy was playing at" she said. Draco glanced over his shoulder and winked at her. Luckily Ron failed to spot this as Neville had just succeeded in making the little stout cauldron he had been given in replacement for the pencil explode all over his desk.

"Be careful, Mr Longbottom!" said Flitwick and repaired the cauldron with his wand as the class laughed.

It was Potions next but Draco had Transfiguration and Hermione, who wanted to speak about the flower, made her excuses to Ron and Harry and caught up with Draco outside Professor McGonagall's classroom. Disregarding the curious looks and scowls from the pack of Slytherin girls nearby, Hermione marched up to Draco and said

"I want to talk to you"

"Fine" said Draco and followed her along the corridor and into an empty classroom.

"What was all that about?"

"What was what all about?" said Draco "you look flustered" he observed, looking amused.

"Why did you give me that flower?"

"I thought it would be a nice gesture" Draco explained calmly.

"If you think that gaudy thing you conjured is going to count as an apology –"

"I thought from the look on your face you quite liked it" interrupted Draco "until Weasley decided to ruin it, the idiot. Anyway, what makes you think I have anything to apologise for?"

Hermione opened her mouth and then closed it again. "You...you left me in the middle of our conversation!" she said "it was rude, that's all"

"I thought we were finished talking by that point" replied Draco with a raised eyebrow and smirk "or did I imagine that you were about to kiss me?"

"Shut up!" Hermione told him "someone might hear"

"So what?" said Draco completely calm in contrast to Hermione who was growing more and more impatient with Draco's comments "I thought you didn't care what people thought of you"

"I don't" said Hermione

"Well then" concluded Draco "I'm not your boyfriend, Granger in case you hadn't noticed. If I want to run off with a girl or two for a couple of hours, it's nothing to do with you"

"I...what!" said Hermione, full of rage at this statement "I never...I don't –"

"But if it makes you feel any better, Granger I much prefer your company to anyone who you saw in the changing rooms that day" said Draco.

Hermione simultaneously felt wound up, insulted, angry and pleased that Draco preferred her company to the pretty blonde's. This myriad of emotions rendered her temporarily speechless and Draco laughed at her, pulling from his pocket the flower Ron had caused to wilt.

"I fixed it after you and Potty and the Weasel had left the classroom" said Draco and put it on one of the desks where it lay, glittering and shimmering "I'm going to be late for Transfiguration thanks to you" he sighed "might see you at lunch?"

"Er..." said Hermione, her eyes upon the flower.

Draco grinned at her and left the classroom. Hermione waited until his footsteps had faded away and then went to pick up the flower. She merely stood there, staring at it for several moments until she too realised she was going to be late for class, put the flower carefully into her schoolbag and left the empty classroom.

"This is ridiculous" complained Ron that evening in the Gryffindor common room "all this work!"

Hermione tried to block out Ron's voice and concentrate on her Transfiguration essay. Harry had given up on it an hour ago leaving his schoolbag and books in the common room. Hermione had considered taking out his things and doing some of the coursework for him as Harry had had enough worry recently with Ginny who was still not speaking to him. She already had enough work of her own to be getting on with, however and she had enough distractions as it was what with Draco Malfoy sending her glittery flowers and telling her he enjoyed her company.

A few first years skipped into the common room, making an unnecessary amount of noise. They all gathered around the chairs where Harry had left his bag and started talking excitedly about Quidditch.

"Oi, shut it!" Ron yelled at them "we're trying to work, here"

The first years ignored him.

"Little gits" Ron mumbled and returned to his homework.

An hour later, Hermione had finished her own essay and had agreed to check Ron's spelling which wasn't as bad as she had anticipated. She was just finishing it when Ginny appeared through the portrait hole and joined them, taking out her own homework.

"Hi Ginny" said Hermione "how are you?"

"Fine" Ginny replied "are you fixing Ron's homework for him again?" she asked.

"Only the spelling!" Ron replied "cheers, Hermione" he said, taking his essay back from her and sighing as he looked at the rest of the pile of coursework on the table in front of them. "Better get going on this lot I suppose"

"Isn't that Harry's bag?" said Ginny, looking over to the chairs the first years had vacated a few minutes earlier "I wondered...I thought he would be here, with you"

"Are you going to start talking to him again?" Ron asked hopefully.

"I don't know" said Ginny "I guess I'm thinking about it" she looked at the bag again and then frowned. She got to her feet and headed over to it.

"What's up?" Ron asked her but she did not reply.

Ginny reached for something that was hanging out of the side of Harry's open bag. Hermione thought this was peculiar as she remembered Harry buckling it shut before he went to bed. She and Ron looked on as Ginny pulled something bright pink out of the bag and held it up to her eye level, looking more disgusted than Hermione had ever seen her in her life.

Ginny turned and showed Hermione and Ron a scrap of lacy pink something with a small piece of parchment tied to it. It took Hermione a few seconds to realise that Ginny was holding up a pair of knickers.

"What!" exclaimed Ron "what are those doing in Harry's bag?"

"Quite" said Ginny "because they certainly aren't mine" she held the knickers in front of her gingerly and then pulled the parchment off.

"Harry," she read aloud, her voice quaking with fury and hurt "I thought you might want something to remember the other night. I can't wait until I see you again. Melody"

Ginny's jaw was trembling. She looked absolutely livid and then, looking as though she had made a decision, she drew her wand and still holding the frilly knickers and the attached note, made for the boy's staircase.

Ron looked at Hermione worriedly "do you think we should follow her?"

Hermione nodded feverishly "Yes, definitely"

They threw their homework down and ran up the stairs. Hermione could already hear yelling.

Harry was standing against the opposite wall in his pyjamas and looking every bit as though he had just been suddenly awoken by a furious Ginny Weasley who was rounding on Harry with her wand drawn.

"This has nothing to do with you two!" Ginny bellowed at Hermione and Ron, pointing her wand at them instead and Hermione instinctively drew her own which Ginny noticed but disregarded.

"If you're about to hex my best mate it's got everything to do with me!" said Ron.

"Oh that's it, take his side...I'm meant to be your sister!" Ginny yelled back, brandishing Melody's knickers "I suppose these just found their way into Harry's bag on their own, did they?" she shrieked.

"I'm not saying...I know...it's just...look, I know Harry's got some explaining –"

"Shut up, Ronald" said Ginny and Hermione thought it was wise for Ron to obey.

"Can someone tell me what's going on?" demanded Harry who was staring from Ginny's wand to the pair of knickers in her hand "why are you holding a pair of knickers?" he asked her.

"Oh like you don't know!" shouted Ginny and she read Melody's note aloud to Harry as well.

"I haven't a clue what that's about" said Harry and Hermione knew then and there, by the bewildered look on Harry's face that Harry was not at fault here. "Melody must have planted them on me!"

"How?" Ginny asked, looking quite maniacally enraged now "you're lying, you've been lying all along and I'm stupid for letting this happen right under my nose. I was going to let this all go, you know, thought we could get back together and start again. That was before I saw these, of course" she said and hurled the knickers at Harry who batted them away as though they were poisonous.

"I've never seen those in my life!" Harry insisted and there was anger in his voice now too "you've got everything wrong Ginny...don't be stupid!"

"The least you could do is admit it!" wailed Ginny. There were tears in her eyes now "just tell me the truth, Harry"

"That is the truth! I'd never go near Melody Colton!" Harry told her.

Ginny stared at him and then swiftly raised her wand. Harry stared right back at her.

"You're going to attack me?" he asked "go ahead, fine...whatever. I don't care anymore. Leave me alone, Ginny"

Ginny lowered her wand and turned away before hurtling through the dormitory door, sobbing.

"Harry," said Hermione gently, perching on the end of Dean Thomas's empty bed "I know you're not lying, I know Melody put those knickers in your bag somehow, with the note"

"Thanks, Hermione" said Harry miserably.

"Yeah, we believe you, mate" said Ron quietly.

Hermione was suddenly very angry at Melody Colton "you wait until I get a hold of her!" she said "I won't let this go, Harry I'm going to make her admit to Ginny what she did!"

"Don't bother...leave it. It's all ruined now" said Harry in a voice that sounded so dejected that it brought a little lump to Hermione's throat.

"What a cow...well, what should we expect from someone related to Rita Skeeter" said Ron.

They left Harry alone after a while and returned to the Gryffindor common room and went over to collapse onto a sofa.

"I don't think Ginny's going to listen to reason" said Hermione unhappily "she's going to want proof Harry was set up before she even considers getting back together with him"

"Yeah" agreed Ron "but what proof is there?"

A first year climbed through the portrait hole and scuttled across the room, heading for her dormitory. Hermione watched her go and then a thought struck her.

"Those first years who were hanging around those chairs earlier," she said to Ron "Harry's bag was beside one of those chairs!"

Ron looked perplexed "Yeah, so?"

"So" said Hermione "one of them could have put those knickers into Harry's bag when we weren't looking! I thought Harry had closed it before he went to bed and then when the first years left and Ginny came in, the bag was open!"

"You reckon?" said Ron who seemed to think this unlikely "I dunno, I didn't see them go near the bag"

"Yes but we weren't watching them very closely, were we?" said Hermione reasonably "we were concentrating on our coursework, one of them could have very easily put the knickers in the bag while we were distracted"

"You think Melody asked one of the first years to do it?" said Ron.

"Yes, I do! It all makes sense" said Hermione "can you remember what any of them looked like?"

"Nope, they all look pretty much the same to me" said Ron "tiny and giggly"

"Well I'm going to find out which one it was and get them to tell Ginny what they did" said Hermione decidedly, packing up her books. It was past ten o clock now. "I'm going to bed, I'll see you tomorrow" and Hermione left for the girl's staircase, plotting how she would fix the mess Melody Colton had left behind.

It was Potions first lesson on Monday but Hermione and Ron were without Harry, who apparently had a cold and felt too ill to go to classes that morning. Hermione had spent her entire weekend working on her coursework so as not to fall behind and so had not had a chance to find out what Melody was up to. Neither had she spoken to Draco, who she only saw during mealtimes.

"Harry must be really depressed" said Hermione as she took out her cauldron and Professor Slughorn ambled past, calling to the class to be quiet.

"Yeah," whispered Ron "I'm going to go and see him as soon as classes are finished, see if I can cheer him up a bit. Don't count on it though"

"Quiet, Mr Weasley" warned Slughorn. They were with the Slytherins again and Malfoy was at his usual table with the pretty blonde who always sat next to him. Draco kept looking at Hermione and giving her little smiles. She wished he wouldn't keep looking at her; Ron was going to notice something in a minute.

The blonde girl poked Draco in the arm and said something quietly into his ear, sniggered and pointed very obviously at Hermione.

"I thought I told you," Hermione heard Draco say, his voice raised in indignation "not to talk like that about her!"

"Is there something wrong, Mr Malfoy?" queried Slughorn.

"Yes, Professor" said Draco clearly and politely "I don't think I want to sit next to Emily anymore"

The blonde girl, Emily, looked as though she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"What do you mean, you don't want to sit next to me?" she snapped.

"You see, Professor" Draco continued, ignoring Emily completely "she's been whispering nasty things about Granger in my ear ever since we came into class and I don't approve of the term "Mudblood". I'm sure you'll understand if I move places, sir"

"Is this true, Miss Green?" said Slughorn, gazing disapprovingly down at Emily "have you been using offensive language in my classroom?"

"Of course not sir!" said Emily and attempted a sweet smile "you know me, Professor"

"Yes, Miss Green indeed I do. I've had a few complaints about your behaviour from other female students...I was disinclined to believe them until now. I do not tolerate bullying in my classroom, Miss Green and I am taking this accusation quite seriously. You should be pleased I am not giving you detention"

"But sir!" said Emily desperately "Draco was lying, sir!"

"No I wasn't" said Draco "and I'll take Veritaserum to prove it if it'll get you away from me"

"That won't be necessary, Mr Malfoy" said Slughorn who was evidently eager to stop the situation getting out of hand, said quickly "I want to hear no more of this now" his eyes searched the room and came to rest on the empty place next to Hermione which Harry normally filled "Ah yes, Mr Malfoy you will take the seat next to Miss Granger...we have wasted enough time already without me arranging a new desk for you. Hop to it, then"

Draco gathered his things, ignored the scathing look Emily gave him and went to Hermione and Ron's desk.

"You've changed your tune" Ron muttered to Draco as he took his seat "since when did you care about people calling others Mudblood?"

"I changed my tune a while ago, Weasley now shut up or we'll all be given detention"

When Slughorn had explained the requirements for the lesson and everybody had gathered their ingredients and had begun working on their potions, light chatter broke out. It was one of the positives of having a lesson with Slughorn, that he allowed them to talk a little while they worked as long as it didn't distract them from their potion making.

"Was that why you were arguing with Emily the other day at breakfast?" Hermione asked Draco. Ron had left his chair to fetch some more lacewing flies from the store cupboard and Hermione had seized the opportunity to talk to Draco without Ron overhearing. "Because she was insulting me?"

Draco didn't look up from his cauldron when he answered her "I don't like the word Mudblood" he said "especially when it's used in reference to you. She's a nasty bitch anyway; I'm pleased to be shot of her. She should leave me alone, now"

"You've slept with her before, though" said Hermione and Draco's reply confirmed this assumption.

"Yeah, well...she wasn't even good at that. Stupid cow. She's always bullying the girls in the younger years, probably because she's so insecure herself. The amount of times she used to ask me if she was pretty...what a pain in the arse"

Hermione chose not to ask what Draco had said when Emily asked him that question. She didn't particularly want to know but Draco had answered without Hermione's questioning.

"She is pretty," Draco concluded "she'd be great if she wasn't such a bitch"

Hermione wanted desperately to know if Draco thought she was pretty and then scolded herself for being so petty and shallow. Draco was looking at her very closely; probably to see how she would react to Draco calling Emily pretty but Hermione ensured she gave away nothing in her expression and Draco returned to his cauldron as Ron reappeared beside her.

Hermione barely concentrated on her potion at all, so pleased was she that Draco had defended her and removed himself from Emily's company because she had insulted her. It was a buoyant feeling that she was sure not even the Elixir To Induce Euphoria they had been making could replicate.

Hermione ate dinner with Ron and Neville that evening. Ginny was absent and Harry had only appeared for a few minutes, tried to eat but then decided he wasn't hungry and returned to the common room.

"Where is Ginny?" Hermione asked Ron. She waited for him to swallow the small mountain of mashed potato he had shovelled into his mouth.

"I saw her before dinner" said Ron "she's probably gone off to plot revenge on Melody Colton. Any luck with those first years?"

"No" replied Hermione "I tried asking a few of them after Transfiguration earlier but they said they didn't know who had been in the common room yesterday evening...they could have been lying, of course"

"Not thinking of spiking first years with Veritaserum are you?" said Ron jokingly.

"Of course not" said Hermione "I'll get to the bottom of this somehow...I want to prove it was Melody who planted those knickers"

"What's all this about knickers?" said an upper class voice behind them.

"Malfoy," said Ron "what are you doing here? Go back to your own table, me and Hermione are talking"

"Yes, I heard...something about knickers...Was it about Grangers knickers? Because all know how much you'd like to get into those, Weasley so she probably already knows, no need to explain to her"

Both Hermione and Ron blushed.

"But you never know, she might even say yes" Draco went on, obviously enjoying himself "I doubt it though, I happen to personally know that Granger has much better taste in men than to go for you, Weasley. Never mind, eh?"

Hermione shot Draco a warning look.

"Malfoy if all you've come over here for is to spout bullshit then please leave" said Hermione.

"I just thought I'd come and say hello, seeing as us three are potions pals now" said Draco "where's Potter, anyway?"

"None of your business, Malfoy" said Hermione shortly.

"Well, have a nice evening then" said Draco cheerily and walked off.

"What a git...if the teachers weren't looking I'd have turned him into a ferret"

"Don't let him get to you"

"He may have saved your life, Hermione and stopped all this Muggle-born prejudice but he's still a bastard, isn't he?"

"Sometimes" said Hermione distractedly. She was watching Melody Colton at the Ravenclaw Table. She looked much happier than she had the other day. "Not always, he's okay sometimes"

"Well I've never seen him acting okay" replied Ron. He cleared his throat "just to let you know, Hermione...what Malfoy suggested...the knickers...I mean, your knickers, I don't want...I mean, unless –"

"Oh drop it Ron, forget it" said Hermione "why don't you go and find Harry, see if you can make him feel a bit better? I'm going to borrow some books from the library after dinner and I'll see you back in the common room"

Ron looked at his slice of unfinished gateau "What, now?"

"Yes Ron, now! Or is a slice of cake more important than your best friend's happiness?"

"Alright, Hermione calm down...I'm going" said Ron and she was finally able to finish her meal in peace. When she picked up her bag and walked through the Great Hall to head for the library, she spotted Melody Colton talking hurriedly with a Gryffindor first year boy. The first year said something and then she saw Melody say no and watched as Melody pushed the Gryffindor lightly away from her. The first year scurried off out of the Great Hall and Hermione followed.

"Hey!" she called after the boy "come back here!"

The boy looked around at her and then broke into a run. Hermione gave chase and finally cornered him on the second floor.

"Don't move!" she said and the first year eyed the prefect badge pinned to Hermione's lapel "what were you doing at the Ravenclaw Table, talking to Melody Colton?"

"I wasn't!" answered the first year unconvincingly.

"I saw you, now tell me why you were talking to her" Hermione demanded.

"She told me not to say anything..." said the first year slowly "especially to you or that other boy, the ginger one"

"Tell me, right now"

"Alright!" said the first year, giving in "she gave me..." and at this point the boy seemed to be struggling not to laugh "a pair of knickers and a note," he said with a giggle "and...And she told me to get them into Harry Potter's dormitory or in his bag or pocket or something and then she said she would give me a Galleon if I managed it..."

"Right" said Hermione.

"...there's a sale on at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and I needed the gold" the boy finished matter of factly.

"I'm sure you do" Hermione replied in a gentler voice than the one she had previously used "why were you at her table, though?"

"Well, I wanted to see if she had any more jobs she needed doing" the boy explained "but she told me to get lost. I got a Galleon out of it anyway, I suppose"

"Thanks" Hermione told the boy "and don't mention this to Melody, don't tell her that you told me okay?"

"I wouldn't want to. She'd probably hex me if I told her I'd blabbed. Can I go now?"

"Not yet" said Hermione "I want you to speak to my friend; I want you to tell her what you told me. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I guess" said the boy "but not now, it's nearly curfew and I've got homework to do"

"Find me tomorrow evening in the common room," she told the boy and then added "and if you turn up, I'll give you a Galleon myself" she knew that the first year wouldn't want to pass up the opportunity of having more gold to spend on Fred and George's discounted products.

"Brilliant!" said the boy "can I go now?"

"Yes, yeah go" said Hermione and he ran off. It was too late for her to bother going all the way to the library now and so she headed back to Gryffindor common room. Her journey did not go undisturbed. Apparently, Draco had decided to memorise the route she took from the Great Hall to the common room because he was standing waiting for her in the next corridor.

"Are you stalking me now?" she asked as he fell into step beside her.

"Would you mind very much if I were?" Draco asked her "I just wanted to know if you fancied coming into Hogsmeade with me next week"

Hermione stopped walking. "Hogsmeade?" she replied.

"Yes, you know, the little village down the road from Hogwarts...you've been there a few times, it has lots of shops and a pub" said Draco mockingly.

"Erm..." said Hermione weakly.

"Look, if you'd rather not, I understand" said Draco.

"I'll...I'll think about it" said Hermione at last. Draco didn't seem surprised.

"You and thinking," he said "are you ever spontaneous?"

"I said I'll think about it, didn't I?" said Hermione "it's nearly curfew, you better get back to your common room"

"See you later, then" said Draco to her retreating back.

"Yeah, see you" Hermione replied. She reached the portrait hole, muttered the password to the Fat Lady and went upstairs to her dormitory where she sank onto her bed and took out the sparkling flower from her schoolbag. It really was quite an impressive piece of magic, she thought as she admired it. She thought then that Draco probably meant for her to appreciate the gesture rather than the skill involved to make it and then thought how he would have expected her to think that way. She smiled to herself as she looked at the flower and then placed it tenderly back in her bag.

Would their trip to Hogsmeade be like a date? Hermione thought. Would Draco take her to Madam Puddifoots? She hoped not. She suspected that this trip was less of a first date and more of a friendly sort of trip, designed so Draco could do what he had admitted to her he wanted to do...learn more about her, get to know her better. They had not had many opportunities to talk recently at all and Hermione had already decided she was going to go with Draco. She had probably known what her answer was the moment he had asked her. It would be nice, she thought, to get away from everyone for a while and go somewhere quiet and just talk. She didn't want another discussion about the war or what had happened during it; she didn't want to dwell on the past but look towards the future. She wanted to know how this friendship, this relationship that had blossomed between them was going to turn out. She was curious, interested and now she realised she was quite excited about the prospect of going to Hogsmeade. She would find Draco tomorrow and tell him so.

The day wore on slowly. They had a double helping of History of Magic in the morning and even Hermione was getting a little tired of Professor Binns' dreary voice. Ron had fallen into a light doze beside her and she poked him with her quill.

"Wake up!" she whispered "you're going to fail your N.E.W.T's!"

"So you keep telling me" said Ron with a yawn "what have I missed?"

"Half the lesson" said Hermione.

At lunch, she first sought out Ginny and explained to her that she should meet her in the common room that evening.

"Why?" said Ginny.

"I've been doing some digging about Melody Colton and there's something you should hear" said Hermione.

"Oh Hermione can't you just leave it?" said Ginny tiredly "stop trying to excuse Harry...I know he's your best friend but really, this has nothing to do with you"

"Just be in the common room after dinner," Hermione told her "alright?"

"Okay, fine" agreed Ginny "but I'm still not talking to Harry"

Next, Hermione needed to speak to Draco. Not wanting to attract curious looks from the Gryffindors and nasty ones from the Slytherins, she chose to catch him after lunch instead of going over to his table.

"I would like to go to Hogsmeade with you" she said "if you still want me to?"

"I haven't changed my mind" Draco replied.

Emily was skulking near the doors to the Great Hall and looking at Hermione as though she wanted nothing more than to throw a jinx at her. Hermione steered Draco away from her line of vision and said

"Alright. Well, I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall on Saturday morning, shall I?"

"Sounds like a plan. I can't wait" he said and took hold of her arm, giving it a squeeze "see you later" he muttered in her ear.

Hermione grinned to herself as she walked to Herbology with Harry who was still in a dismal mood and Ron who was hastily going over Hermione's History of Magic notes in an effort to make up for the time he was asleep in lesson.

"I think things might get better soon, Harry" she said as they entered the greenhouses.

"You think?" said Harry depressingly "I just don't know how to make this right" he said as they pulled on their gloves "she just flat out doesn't believe that I haven't cheated on her"

"Well, try not to worry too much" said Hermione "you need to make sure this doesn't affect your studies...you need full marks in the necessary subjects if you want to be an Auror, Harry"

"Yeah, thanks Hermione I'm well aware of that" Harry replied miserably as Professor Sprout said to the class

"Everyone have their protective gloves on now? Excellent, let's get on with the lesson, then"

They emerged from Herbology an hour later, covered in mud and made their way to Transfiguration. Draco had vacated his normal place next to Emily and was now sitting with a tall Slytherin boy whose name Hermione did not know.

Emily spent most of the lesson whispering with her friend whenever McGonagall's back was turned and giving Hermione the usual nasty looks. Draco headed over to Hermione's table, pretending he needed to borrow a quill and whispered in her ear.

"I see you still kept the flower that was, what was it? Gaudy...I think that's what you said" Draco nodded to her bag that was open at her feet. The sparkly flower could just about be seen resting on top of one of her books. She had been carrying it around with her ever since Draco had given it to her. It was the nicest gift she had ever received and that included the brand new copy of Hogwarts, A History that Harry had given to her for her last birthday.

Before Hermione could reply, Draco said "thanks for the quill, Granger" and returned to his seat.

Hermione thought the weekend could not arrive quickly enough.


End file.
